KDP leader says Iraq is in 'deep' crisis

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Masoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), said on Saturday that Iraq is suffering from a ‘deep’ crisis due to political turmoil, adding that his party will help to find a solution. 

Iraq held a parliamentary election in October in a bid to escape the political and security instability it was suffering from. Over eight months after the results of the early vote were announced, political parties have failed to elect a new president and prime minister for the country due to disputes.

The recent resignation of the main winner of the elections, the Sadrist bloc, has caused a great uncertainty.

Attending an event in Erbil, where a series of books about Kurdish freedom movement in the Barzan area were launched, the KDP leader said that the country was in crisis.

“We will do our best to help our friends to get out of this crisis because it [solution] is in the benefit of the [Kurdistan] Region as well. However, frankly speaking, the crisis is deep," noted Barzani, whose KDP gained 31 seats out of the legislature's 329 seats. 

The KDP and most Sunnis had struck a deal with the Sadrist Movement, which gained 73 seats, forming the Save the Homeland alliance. However, all winning MPs of the movement submitted their resignations to the parliament earlier this month following a withdrawal order from its leader Muqtada al-Sadr. 

In a televised address on June 9, Sadr urged his MPs to "prepare their resignation papers to submit to the parliament presidency in the coming days.” On Sunday, the speaker of the Iraqi parliament approved the resignation papers submitted by all members of the Sadrist Movement on Sunday, following a letter from their leader Muqtada al-Sadr asking the MPs of his bloc to resign.
 
The KDP has said that it respects Sadr’s decision while the rival Coordination Framework took the news as calmly as it could, but they were extremely pleased with this unexpected bounty.